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Mt. Lebanon family increases efforts to provide more maker spaces

By Harry Funk staff Writer hfunk@thealmanac.Net 4 min read
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In memory of their son, Dave and Noelle Conover approached the principal of Mt. Lebanon’s Foster Elementary School about what type of gift the students could use.

“We thought he was going to say, ‘We’d really like a big-screen TV,’ or maybe, ‘We’d like a 3-D printer,'” Noelle recalled. “He said, ‘Have you ever heard about a makerspace?’ And frankly, two years ago, we had not heard about makerspaces at all.”

Harry Funk / The Almanac

A quilt on display at the Full STEAM ahead event represents a project featuring light-up capabilities.

Since Jason Ramsey made his suggestion, the Conovers have become major proponents of maker learning, by which children can explore science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics in a hands-on manner.

Starting with Foster and Mt. Lebanon School District’s other six elementary schools, the family’s efforts have provided funding for nine makerspaces so far, with a 10th on the way later in the fall.

And with the Conovers’ formation of Matt’s Maker Space Inc. – named after Matthew Conover, who died at age 12 of non-Hodgkins lymphoma – many more are on the horizon.

“If you hear about people who want makerspaces,” Noelle told those in attendance at the “Full STEAM Ahead” launch event for the nonprofit organization, “it’s our desire to be able to give two a year, to a library or to a school or to a community that wants a makerspace.”

Or, with the corporate sponsorship she is seeking: “I’d like to do 10 a year, or maybe 20 a year.”

Harry Funk / The Almanac

Noelle Conover speaks during the Full STEAM ahead event at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh.

One of the Matt’s Maker Space partners, the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, hosted the Oct. 4 event, with guests having the opportunity to see various makerspace projects youngsters have completed.

“This place is nationally – I’d say internationally – known now as a maker place. They’re changing how kids learn,” Noelle asserted, noting that the museum is preparing to open a new wing called Maker Lab.

“It’s going to be where you can bring your middle school kids and your high school kids back, and they can do all kinds of hands-on learning,” she said. “And they’re actually going to have a school in Maker Lab. So they’re going to study this and validate that it’s really the best way for kids to learn.”

Harry Funk / The Almanac

Nicole Lust, left, and Ginny Chambers activate small lights as decorative elements on a quilt displayed at the Full Steam Ahead event.

Museum personnel have been key to the Conovers’ efforts.

“Every Matt’s Maker Space that goes in is designed by them,” Noelle explained, “and then we bring the teachers here” for training.

Other spaces have been established this year at UPMC-Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and St Paul’s Episcopal Nursery School in Mt. Lebanon. Our Clubhouse, which provides free emotional and social support to families touched by cancer in Western Pennsylvania, will be the site of the next one at its Strip District location.

Projects also include a playground in Mexico and media carts for hospitals so critically ill children who must stay in their rooms can play, too.

Noelle serves as executive director of Matt’s Maker Space, and daughters Megan and Anna Conover are co-presidents of the organization. Another family member attending Full STEAM Ahead was Nat Calabro, Noelle’s father, who is about to turn 96.

Harry Funk / The Almanac

William and Amanda Bierman try a button-making project at the event.

“My dad always taught me to give back,” she said. “He was a social worker in a community that had lots of needs. I remember as a little girl going to the office with him when he was there for nightly meetings and helping him stocking the pantry in the food bank.”

On July 14, Matthew Conover would have turned 29. His parents describe him as always being interested in hands-on learning, building with Legos and letting his creativity and imagination guide him.

“We don’t have him. But what we do have is his memory,” Noelle said. “It’s been a gift to our family, the project of Matt’s Maker Space, because now there are people walking around who never knew Matt, but they know about his story.”

For more information, visit mattsmakerspace.org.

Harry Funk / The Almanac

Representatives of Mt. Lebanon Public Library support the cause: from left, Meghan Cahalane, Hillary Lohr, Dr. Charles Jones, Dana Jones and Robyn Vittek.

Harry Funk / The Almanac

From left, Joni McDonald, Debra Smit and Daryl Lucke with one of the projects on display at the Full STEAM Ahead event

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